The Vanguard of Valor is now enforcing a roleplaying policy for the Guild Chat channel. We are not trying to make you bow and scrape for the leaders or officers, however we do want you to consider these basic outlines for roleplaying on the channel and pay heed to them.

1.Guild Chat is a roleplaying channel. Out of Character comments should be reserved for the OOC Channel. Try not to overuse the OOC channel, however, because the main guild chat channel should remain active and vibrant.

2.Avoid the use of Internet abbreviations and smilies in guild chat. You wouldn't say something like "OMG!" to someone else because it would sound like: "OhEmGee!" and you would come across like an idiot. If you have to use an Internet abreviation, it belongs in double brackets because it is OOC. Also, if you want to indicate a facial expression, use an emote within asterixes instead of a smilie. Example: *smiles happily* or *sticks his tongue out*

3.Avoid overusing CAPS. Sometimes you may want to emphasize something, either because you are yelling, or for comedic effect. Using all caps is an easy way to approach this, but if you use caps all the time it starts to make guild chat look messy and juvenile. There are plenty of other ways to emphasize something, so try being creative!

4.No Power-RP. Roleplaying is a creative give-and-take exchange between two or more people that requires that there be agreement and consensual participation between the "actors" involved in the scene. One person should not dictate both an action and a consequence when roleplaying. Some examples:

"Billy grabs Phil by the arm and throws him into the lake."

This isn't good because Billy has already decided the outcome of the action and thus dictated for Phil what's going to happen. This is not a cooperative RP moment and doesn't allow for give-and-take between the participants. What you should aim for is something along these lines:

Billy proposes an action. Phil either accepts or rejects that action.

So in this case what Billy needs to do is set up the action so that Phil has a choice as to whether or not he wants to be a participant in the scene. He could do it like this: "Billy tries to grab Phil by the arm."

Phil can then make it clear that he isn't interested in being manhandled with a "Phil pulls his arm away from Billy" or "Phil avoids Billy's attempt to grab him." Or Phil can accept Billy's action and the scene can continue. The back-and-forth could then proceed as long as the two actors are willingly participating. The final scene could look something like this:

"Billy tries to grab Phil by the arm." "Phil looks alarmed as Billy grabs hold of him." "Billy pulls Phil toward the edge so he can throw him in." "Phil careens into the lake, landing with a loud splash!"

If it makes it any easier, think of it as tossing a ball back and forth. You throw the ball, they catch it. They throw the ball, you catch it. You shouldn't throw so hard it can't be caught and you shouldn't throw five balls at once. Oh, and don't throw it at their face, either!

Also, before engaging in any roleplay which could be considered one-sided (where one of the two actors will be doing the majority of the roleplaying and thus wielding the majority of the creative power) ask the other party in a whisper if they will be okay with it.

5.No Godmoding. Godmoding refers to giving your character powers that go beyond the realm of realistic. Yes, this is a fantasy game and your character wields powerful magic and the reality within the game is obviously different from the real world. However, Godmoding refers to giving your character superhuman abilities in roleplaying terms.

An example of this might be if you react to an internal thought someone in guild chat expressed via an emote. So if Phil wrote "*smiles and thinks about how he just won ten gold betting on the horse races last night*" it would not be right if Billy responded by asking if he could have a loan because of Phil's good fortune at the races. Billy could, however, ask Phil what he's smiling about and the RP could proceed from there.

Another example would be proposing that your character is capable of feats that even in a world of magic are completely ludicrous. For example, defeating all of Stormwind's guards single-handedly is something that would take an army so if Billy said that he'd just come back from doing it, he'd be out of order.

6.Remember where you are and what you are. Look at speech and actions within guild chat as being within the Vanguard's keep of Valorhold. Your character should act accordingly and with mind to the consequences of their actions. Remember that you are a member of a heroic order with the vital mission of defending the Alliance's people and interests on Azeroth and beyond.

Your character should not do things that, in the roleplaying reality of the guild, would carry serious consequences for your character. Damaging property, stealing from guildmates, threatening guildmates, trying to hurt or kill guildmates, and showing disrespect to officers and leaders are all examples of things you should avoid.

Your character has chosen to serve with this heroic order of adventurers and as such, no matter if they have a dark streak, they have to be able to act properly in guild chat.

Put simply, your character should not do things that, in the roleplaying reality of the guild, would get you instantly drummed out of the Vanguard.

7.Keep it clean and friendly! This is a guild for adults and people join for a friendly atmosphere and good company. Confrontational roleplay in guild chat (constant fighting, arguments, name calling, bickering) drains the fun out of guild chat for many of those present. If you want to have an RP fight or argument, you are certainly within your right to organize a "scene" where you and willing participants meet up for a bar brawl or street fight (have your characters meet "in person" at a location, or simply make a chat channel for it). Guild chat is not the place for this.

Romance between characters is also perfectly acceptable and can be a fun way to develop histories and stories between several participants. However, keep encounters and interaction in guild chat clean because everyone has to watch it. If you want your characters to get more physical, go right ahead but take it someplace private before you go wild.

Roleplaying a young character is also acceptable, however please remember that most people joined this guild because it is a guild for adults. Joining an adult guild and then having to contend with an immature character is emotionally taxing, especially to players who have to deal with their own teenagers in real life and aren't interested in dealing with them in the game. Thus, a young character is fine but a young character that acts like the annoying kids people joined this guild to avoid is not acceptable.

Ultimately, this policy should not be looked at as an effort to limit your creativity to explore and grow your character. However, the entire guild is in the guild chat channel when they are online and the feelings and enjoyment of the collective need to be put first.

If you have trouble keeping hold of your character, or you don't know how to develop him/her, or you find yourself stuck, you are more than welcome to use the Vanguard Inn forum to develop your character further. A lot of roleplayers also keep diaries so they don't mix up their characters, backstory, history and abilities. Remember: You control your characters, they do not control you - be creative!

As always, if you have any problems or concerns with a guildmate's roleplay going contrary to these policies, please try to amicably deal with it. If that does not resolve the issue, contact an officer either through a whisper or by in-game mail. Please remember to take screenshots to help the officers deal with the issue fairly and neutrally. Warnings will always be given first before stricter measures are taken to preserve the friendly, comfortable feeling of the guild chat channel.